Its a Wonderful Life: Part 4

George, George It’s A Miracle: It’s A Wonderful Life Part 4

A recent Harris Poll found that 72% of people believe in miracles. A further dive into this survey indicated that miracles are important when we need one but a little harder to believe when someone else does.

Yet the Gospel, the Christmas message is all about Divine Intervention…this is what separates Christianity from many other religions of the world…

Remember this line by Mary in the movie: Come on in here now. Now, you stand right over here, by the tree. Right there, and don’t move, don’t move. I hear em now, George, it’s a miracle! It’s a miracle!

The main storyline of It’s a Wonderful Life is supported by a divine act. God responding to the Prayers of the People of Bedford Falls, the Friends, and Family of George Bailey.

See life is Wonderful because God intervenes if we allow him too.

The entirety of the Christmas Story is God’s Intervention into Humanity, so humanity can be saved…

John 1:1

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. NKJV

John 1:14-17

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said,’He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.'”

16 And* of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 1 NKJV

Isa 7:14

14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.* NKJV

Luke 1:66 “What kind of child will this be?” NKJV

Introduction: Christmas is truly a mystery. A unique thing about the Word of God and mysteries…mysteries are not necessarily meant to be figured out as much as they are for us to appreciate, value and ponder. Hebrews says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” thus Mysteries demand we have Faith and that Faith has the ability to deliver you.

Transition: When you live in the world of complete reason…I think the Lord enjoys messing with your mind…HE does things that conflict with your intellect at times.

I love the question Elizabeth’s and Zacharias friends ask about John…”what kind of child is this.” To be honest I don’t know a parent that has not asked this same question about their own children. I’m absolutely sure Mary and Joseph had these questions plus a whole lot more concerning Jesus.

The Word
1. First of all, Jesus was in the beginning and was the Word…
2. Now the Greek word for Word here is LOGOS…the English word for word is so narrow in its definition in comparison to the Greek word “Logos”
  1. The word Logos not only means “the word” but it also infers to the thoughts, expressions, and reasoning of God….
  2. So, Jesus was the culmination of all these things made Flesh….
3. He was Immanuel…God with us or should I say, One of us!
  1. In 1995 there was a song that came out that many in the church took offense to…”What if God was one of Us”
    1. What if God was one of us, a slob like one of us…
    2. To many, these lyrics were offensive…but to be honest…”Jesus was one of us…” We struggle with this because we want Jesus to be some type of Superman figure…instead of a man who had temptations and struggles like we do…but gave in to none of them…
  2. In Johns Gospel he listed or described 7 different miracles and each one of these Miracles were placed in the gospel to prove Jesus’ deity…
    1. The people saw Jesus as just another man…until He began to do Miracles…
    2. The seven traditional outstanding miracles that John wrote about to show the people of his day that Jesus was the Christ are:
    3. Turning water into wine in Cana (2:1-11)
    4. Healing an official’s son in Capernaum (4:46-54)
    5. Healing an invalid at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem (5:1-18)
    6. Feeding the 5,000 near the Sea of Galilee (6:5-14)
    7. Walking on the water of the Sea of Galilee (6:16-21)
    8. Healing a blind man in Jerusalem (9:1-7)
    9. Raising dead Lazarus in Bethany (11:1-45)

Transition: Aden Nichols the Great Greek Orthodox Theologian said: “The incarnation is the Divine means of Transfiguring the World to greater beauty by redeeming the Divine image in man from the deformity of sin…” Without the Word becoming flesh we are left as hopelessly lost in the deformity of our sin…..

To The Shepherds

Intro. This child, Jesus, was the greatest hope they had ever experienced….

The Angel of the Lord came to them first in the book of Luke…
1. Now there are many reasons for that I would suppose
  1. One is these shepherds were probably the shepherds who watched the flocks of Temple Sacrifice…and the Pharisees of the day were crooked and the Angel of the Lord was announcing to them…”boys business as usual is about over…”
  2. Another reason the Angel appeared to the Shepherds is who else is qualified to inspect a spotless lamb, born for sacrifice
  3. Shepherds were Outcast
    1. Rejected by most of society…nomadic in nature
    2. Only people they ever hung out with were other shepherds

They were not the wealthiest or the up and upties but this is who the Father sent the Angel to first….

So if you ask the Shepherds what Kind of Child is this
1. One who brought them hope
2. One who brought acceptance…
3. One who came to them and said, “though you are poor I will make you rich…not as the world knows riches but as my Father in heaven knows riches”

Wise Men
1. To the wise men this child was the answer to their search and questions
2. These wisemen were descendant Disciples of Daniel in the Bible…I have shared on this before…but the Magi were in the Assyrian Empire, whom Daniel oversaw as He moved up in rank…
  1. Your rank and influence matters, not for just today, but for hundreds of years from now…
3. Now I know this is going to mess up your nativity scene at home…but the Wise men probably didn’t come to Jesus until Jesus was about 2 years old…
  1. Another thing is there wasn’t three of them…we don’t know how many there were…
  2. They brought three kinds of gifts because the gifts have significance…
4. They had been on a quest for answers and Jesus is the answer to all Life’s questions
  1. No matter the Question
    1. Family
    2. Financial
    3. Faith
  2. Jesus is the Answer….
5. Luke 2:12…”they departed for their own country another way…”
  1. If you ever come in contact with the Answer, you will depart different than when you came…

Transition: Wise Men would say, “he is the answer…”

Joseph

Intro. Caused him to embrace the unexplainable to have the impossible

Matt 1:18-19

18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. 19 Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. NKJV

The bible says Joseph was a Just Man
1. A good man who followed the Laws of God…the commandments of the Law
  1. He wanted to put Mary away in Secret…(give her a bill of divorcement) though they had not married yet…betrothed in the Jewish custom is as if Married and the only way to get out of the Betrothal is by official divorce….
    1. If she had been found out to be pregnant and it is not Joseph’s baby…she could have been killed by the Letter of the Law
  2. Another thing that impresses me about Joseph is He doesn’t argue with the Angel
    1. See to embrace the unexplainable to have the impossible you must let go of your arguments…
    2. Too many of us argue ourselves out of our miracle…

We are masters at telling the Lord what He cannot do…We can quote; “with Christ all things are possible…” but I’m not convinced we actually believe it.

Transition: Joseph what Kind of Child is this: “this child makes the impossible, possible) for He is God with us.

Gabrielle The Heralding Angel

Intro. “What Kind of Child will this be”

One who walked on streets of Gold and traded it to walk on streets of dirt…
One who said, “Let it be” and it was as HE spoke
It is the most amazing thing that I have ever seen…
1. He is the Alpha and the Omega, HE is the beginning and the end…I watched Him Author Faith and then Finish Faith…I beheld him in His Glory when He was with the Father…
2. But the most amazing thing took place… A mystery I cannot explain…
  1. The reason I cannot explain it is, when Lucifer and a 1/3 of the Angels fell from Heaven…
  2. The Word…You call Him Jesus…We know Him as the Word…He did not offer to die for the Angels…
  3. Yet I saw Him, this Jesus; strip himself of His omniscience, His omnipotence, and His omnipresence…
  4. I don’t understand…this thing He did for Humanity…
    1. The Father and The Spirit along with the Word…Call It GRACE!!!
    2. WHAT IS THIS GRACE…
  5. TOO ALL OF HEAVEN THIS IS A MYSTERY….So I have come to declare Peace on Earth and Goodwill to mankind, for I beheld Him in His glory, I beheld him when He and the Father danced together and as they did the Worlds and the Universe spun out of their dance and His Word that He spoke…

Transition: No wonder John didn’t describe him beginning in the Manger, but rather from His position in Glory…for He was the Word come to us…Isaiah called Him Immanuel…God with us!!!!

Closing
1. Example of an Hour Glass
  1. Fullness pouring into the Emptiness
    1. It is the Father’s fullness being poured into Humanities emptiness
    2. The point in which they meet is Jesus Christ….
      1. Notice it is a narrow place…somewhere I read, Narrow is the road…that leads to life
      2. God and man connecting through not one place but rather one person, Christ Jesus….
    3. The problem with my illustration is my sand in this glass is limited but when we are speaking about our heavenly father…he is limitless, and He is continually pouring into the emptiness of Humanity but you must be connected to Christ Jesus….
    4. Thus the importance of Jesus, one of us, Immanuel God with us…
  2. My friend if you don’t know Jesus…you will have no one connecting your emptiness to the fullness of God the Father
2. So, Who is this Jesus to you
  1. Are you like the shepherds? Feeling unworthy, dealing with rejection and hurt?
  2. Are you as the wise men….looking for answers in all the wrong places?

Maybe you like Joseph…believe for the unexplainable?

Maybe you are like Gabrielle…this Jesus is a complete mystery to you, and you don’t understand…today my friend I offer to you Grace…the Grace only this Jesus born in a manger can give…
Or last but not least…”You’re not hooked up to the Fullness of who God is, because you are not hooked up to Jesus…” this is what it means to be saved.

Its a Wonderful Life: Part 4

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